Long Run Solutions

Emotional Tank

Dr. Ross Campbell once said,

"Inside every child is an 'emotional tank' waiting to be filled with love. When a child really feels loved, he will develop normally, but when the love tank is empty, the child will misbehave. Much of the misbehavior of children is motivated by the cravings of an empty 'love tank'."

  Is there anything at all surprising about that statement? My answer is no. The only thing that I might see as surprising is how easily we lose track of the idea that love, and lots of it, is the key ingredient to raising healthy, well adjusted children.

And what struck me as so naturally truthful about Dr. Campbell's statement is that it does not include the words "self esteem". Lately I have been tossing around the idea of writing about "living without guilt verses living with high self esteem". Are these ideas mutually exclusive? No, but one is much more important than the other. Right?

The Patience of Abraham

(Just click here if you are looking for the Amazing Moose hunt video you have heard about)

Hebrews 6:15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

I was reading the bible on Friday, chapter 6 of the book of Hebrews specifically, and I ran across the simple statement above. Maybe it’s just me, but that simple verse struck me as very powerful.

As I went for a run on Saturday I couldn’t help but repeat the verse in my head …..”after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised”. And again…..”after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised”. When I meditated on that verse as I ran, I started putting my own name in….”after waiting patiently, William received what was promised”.  Isn’t it amazing how much more powerful scripture is when we apply it to our own lives and our own circumstances.

This is one of the real joys of regular Bible reading. As we grow and mature and spend time reading scripture, we find that God speaks to us through his Word in ways that he may not have spoken to us before. So get into your Bible everyday, even if for only 10 minutes. Nothing can replace God’s Word if you want to learn more about your salvation! Oh, and don't forget, you may need to be patient, but we are assured in Hebrews 6:19a that, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

Eternity is a Long Time

John 3:16 says that God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him shall never die, but have eternal life.

Wow. That is a big idea isn’t it. Actually, there are a couple of big ideas in that simple verse from the Gospel of John. I’m struck at this moment by the end of this verse “never die but have eternal life”. Can we as humans even get our minds around God’s promise of “eternal life”?

Before I was 30, I felt so bullet proof that in some ways eternal life may have been an easier concept then. Because my body didn’t ache and recovery from injury was quick, the thought of dieing just didn’t occupy much of my time. Also, I had been blessed with very healthy people around me.

It was somewhere in my 30’s where I was beginning to understand that I wasn’t going to beat the system and live forever. That sounds good doesn’t it. Sort of philosophical. I must have been getting older and wiser. Maybe a little. But, I think instead of accumulated wisdom it was something more like life and death smacking me in the face in some very obvious ways. Children being born, and growing, and smiling, and crying. The tragic death or two of a friend or an acquaintance that all of us experience if we remain among the living. A grandparent, an uncle, or an aunt who pass on from old age or cancer.

These are the experiences that God put’s before us. These are God’s way of smacking us in the face. We struggle, or at least I know I have. We cry, maybe if just in private. We put up a strong facade, so as to not have to be challenged to deeply by the inevitable end that God is showing us.

And then there is 40 something. Or maybe for the smarter or more faithful one’s it is younger. I work out harder now to prove that I can kick most 30 year olds butts. But, I am starting to understand something that has been elusive all of these 40+ years. And that is that “His will be done”. Not my will. Not my beautiful sons’ or daughter’s or my wife’s will. Not my parent’s, my friend’s, or my boss’s will. No, God’s will be done. End of story. End of story? Well, yes. And also, beginning of story.

And here we are back at John 3:16. This is the part where God gives his son Jesus up to forgive the sins of the world. That is, he gave his son for you and me. And with the blessing of the Holy Spirit who builds our faith through the Word, we come to understand God’s simple plan for salvation. That simple plan is easily stated as:

          

Jesus death and resurrection = forgiveness for all our sins and eternal life

Which brings us back to this “eternal life” part. Boy, I’m still struggling with what exactly eternal life is. I do know the definition, but good Lord, eternity? That makes the life we sometimes suffer and struggle so mightily in today a mere blip on the radar screen. Like a blink of the eye I guess. We need only confess with our mouth and believe with our heart. Salvation and eternal life are so easily yours and mine.

And here is what amazes me and makes me think that this life is really only a blink of the eye. It makes no difference whether we confess our faith in Jesus when we are 10 years old and live a life of belief, or if we confess our faith 10 seconds or 10 days before we die. It counts the same in God’s book. It counts for eternal life and I hope and pray that we see each other in eternity one day.

Christ is Risen!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

That is a traditional Easter greeting in my church (it was also a traditional greeting in the early Christian Church). And, as a Christian, what a greeting it is! In fact, it is the reason for our hope and therefore the reason the Christian Church exists. It happened like this:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and become like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Com and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you." (Matthew 28:1-10)

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Hypocritical Bible Reader

I admit to being a regular Bible reader. There I have said it. I suspect that means that some people will look upon me with suspicion. After all, don't we all remember that guy who always talked about religion and was so high and mighty and you could just tell he thought he was better than everyone else. Or, what about the guy who went to church every Sunday and talked about the importance of God in his life, and then one day you noticed that he really didn't always treat his wife and kids very well. You heard him make a snide comment about his wife and it seemed pretty hypocritical. Oh, and then there is the guy who is constantly quoting the Bible, as if to make it known that he is just a little better than you. Probably thinks he is a bit closer to God.

Yep, pretty much all those describe me. I'm so hypocritical sometimes that it amazes me. I say one thing and think and do another. I know what is right, but I put myself in situations that I should not. I fully recognize that God is responsible for the part of me that is good and right, but I still try to take credit for most anything good in my life. After all, I'm hard working. I'm a family man.

Picture a sports team. For my example I will use a football team. When this team tries to run a sweep right, the guards always forget to pull and the tackle is so slow that never once has he made it around the corner to actually make a block that impacts the play. On the rare occasion that the quarterback takes a good snap and handles it cleanly, he is almost incapable of making a good pitch to the halfback. And it wouldn't really matter if everything went just right and the quarterback made a good pitch because the halfback usually forgets the play. This offensive unit is so bad that it has never made positive yards from scrimmage. And some people say that the real weakness of the team is the defense.

Well, this is what God deals with everyday with you and me. Ecclesiastes 9:11 says, "I have something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them".

God points out here that man is not the ultimate controller of events. In fact, the things that man might see as important to something like a good football offense, like physical strength, is irrelevant to God. He does not value the things that humans value like quickness and strength and wealth. But somehow, he takes our rag tag no talent hypocritical selves and works his wondrous love through us. We are indeed God's conduits on earth to spread His love and His mercy and His message.

So we can take heart and be confident in God's love for us. We need not count on our own abilities and strengths. We will fall down and we will fall short, but God will, through the death and resurrection of His one and only Son, pick us up and dust us off. And when we are too weak to go on, he will pick us up and carry us forward. In the long run, he will build us up and use us, to spread His loving Word to the Glory of His kingdom!

Amen.

God Shines Forth!

Psalm 50:2

"From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth".

Sometimes when I read a Bible verse it just strikes me with an "a ha" moment. It doesn't matter how many times I may have read it before and not had the same reaction. For whatever reason, God picks certain times, probably when we are ready, to teach us lessons.

Recently I was sitting alone in our cabin as I read this verse and here is what came to mind. There must be 100 ways that God "shines forth" to us each and every day. I know that just that day, right off hand, I saw God's light in the pictures on our cabin walls, in the "Outdoorsman's Bible" I found over by the stereo, and in the sheer beauty of the day from 38,000 feet as I flew home. Also, from the woman working for United who helped me out and comforted me, from the worker at Caribou coffee who cared about me as her customer, from my wife's smile, from my daughter's hug, from my co-workers when I returned to work, and on and on.

I think I find it most amazing to think of how God takes me and you, in our very imperfect sinful selves, and turns us into His perfect light shining forth into the world. God uses us to give hope and comfort and love and support and listening and hugs and smiles and so on to those that he puts in our lives. I guess this is amazing to me on at least two levels. One, the obvious one above, where God takes dirty rags, that would be us, and uses them for the glory of His kingdom by making His light, "perfect in beauty", shine forth through us. And two, that God knows where to put us and when, in order to make the impact on His kingdom that He wants.

Wow, I am such a peon! Thank God I picked up the Bible and opened it to Psalm 50 this weekend. This truth is so obvious that is seems goofy that I needed the reminder. So, open your Bible up and tell me what you find. If you are anything like me, it is often better to read for quality rather than quantity.